@CommonSensePolitics

Common Sense Politics

[Rod Blagojevich @realBlagojevich]

Eric Swalwell is now facing an expulsion vote in the House because of the sexual misconduct accusations against him. There have been 268 settlements for workplace disputes, including for sexual misconduct,
totaling $17 million in taxpayer money. In March 2026, the House voted to cover up the names of members paying to settle sexual misconduct claims. Why are the names of those members being covered up?

[Kevin Sorbo @ksorbs]

I didn't think it could get worse, I was wrong.

Watching that illegal animal from Haiti beat a woman to death with a hammer has radicalized me more than I thought possible.

Our politicians bear the blame for this. It was an intentional policy choice.

The Biden admin opened our border to the criminal filth from the third world knowing that would kill Americans like me and you.

The blood is on their hands. Prosecute anyone inside the Biden admin who allowed for this to take place 13,000 Americans are DEAD because of them.

These government officials must be punished.

Lock them up.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

True

[🇺🇸 Ronald Carter @USronaldcarter]

I just got off the phone with someone who works in defense policy in Washington. What they told me should end every "Trump is reckless" argument permanently.

"Every single president since Clinton received the same intelligence briefing on Iran's nuclear timeline. Every single one was told the window was closing. Every single one chose to kick it down the road because the political cost of acting was higher than the political cost of waiting."

Trump got the same briefing. 60kg of 90% enriched uranium. 4 weeks to breakout. Material for 2 bombs.

He chose to act knowing it would tank his approval to 35%.

He chose to act knowing his own base would split.

He chose to act knowing NATO allies would refuse to help.

He chose to act knowing gas prices would spike.

A senior analyst I know at a major think tank put it this way: "The difference between Trump and every president before him isn't intelligence. They all had the same data. The difference is courage."

Read that again.

Every president had the same file on their desk. Only one opened it and did something.

I'll keep you updated. Turn on notifications. 🚨

[Wayne Dunlap @wdunlap]

@USronaldcarter

[🇺🇸RealRobert🇺🇸 @Real_RobN]

And here it is:

One of the most shocking testimonies in United States congressional history.

J.J. CARRELL served in the United States Border Patrol for twenty-four years until he retired as a deputy patrol agent in charge in the San Diego Sector. He worked under five presidential administrations, and only one president secured the border: President Donald Trump.

J.J. CARRELL: “I state without reservation that the United States federal government, under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is the world’s largest child sex-trafficking organization in modern history. The probability that thousands of these children are being raped at this very moment is one hundred percent.

“Border Patrol agents went from working and being supported by the greatest border president in American history to the worst, President Joe Biden. My last year in the Border Patrol was Joe Biden’s first year in office. On his first day in office, I watched in disbelief as ninety-four executive orders cascaded down from Washington, D.C., obliterating every immigration policy that had provided the most secure border in America’s history. Border agents were forced to carry out unconstitutional orders that violated every law in the Immigration and Nationality Act. President Biden, through Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, created policy out of thin air, ignored federal immigration law, and facilitated the largest mass invasion into America that the world has ever seen.

“The United States of America will have spent hundreds of billions of dollars in four years to fund the needs of over fifty million illegal aliens who populate our nation. Between one in six and one in seven residents in America is an illegal alien. America has suffered the greatest demographic shift in modern history.

“After serving in the United States Border Patrol for twenty-four years, I state with complete certainty that Biden, Harris, and Mayorkas are intentionally, strategically, and purposely weaponizing illegal immigration and using it as a tool to fundamentally transform America. Inside this invasion, the unspoken evil of child trafficking, and more specifically child sex trafficking, has flourished. At the end of this current administration, the number of children trafficked will have grown to over five hundred and fifty thousand unaccompanied alien children, known as UACs.”

The death penalty.

[toddstarnes @toddstarnes]

Senate Republicans never had any intention of passing the Save America Act. And there will likely not be any other votes of consequence between now and the midterms.

Make no mistake, John Thune and his leadership team have betrayed the American people and their president. And they don't care - not one bit. They sabotaged the president's agenda - from day one. Their behavior may likely cost Republicans the House and the Senate. And they deserve to lose.

However, President Trump does not deserve to be impeached and that's exactly what would happen if the Democrats regained control. So, we can't let that happen -- for Donald Trump's sake.

Let's spare President Trump and the First Lady the agony of endless investigations and trumped up charges. Reelect the gutless guttersnipes.

We can deal with the jackassery of Thune and his cowardly band of traitors in 2028.

Our president deserved better. And so did America First voters. We got screwed by the Republicans.

[U.S. Senator John Fetterman @SenFettermanPA]

This mayhem came from a very specific choice to shut DHS down.

Pure mass chaos that I refuse to vote for.

Can you imagine what this must be like for the UNPAID TSA employees and people that are desperate to make their flight??

[DataRepublican (small r) @DataRepublican]

🧵 THREAD: Democrats TEACH voter identification and election integrity ... just not in America

The Democratic Party has an international arm called the National Democratic Institute (NDI). It's funded by $181M/year in US tax dollars. Its board includes Stacey Abrams, Donna Brazile, and Tom Daschle.

But in regards to today's SAVE America Act debate... did you know that the NDI has taught and supervised election processes all over the world?

For 40 years, NDI has told every developing country on earth that voter ID is essential for election integrity. They've recommended biometric systems... yes, that's right, NDI recommended biometric systems, which goes way beyond SAVE America Act! They praised fingerprint verification. Tracked ID card issuance rates.

Meanwhile, Democrats call the SAVE Act "Jim Crow 2.0."

Same party. Same people. Opposite positions.

As always, patience as I pull together the thread 👇

[Liz Wagner @biz4lizw]

@FinalTelegraph

[Dr. Eli David @DrEliDavid]

Israel's intelligence is next-level:

4 IRGC commanders in Lebanon tried to hide. They booked 15 hotel rooms under false names, and used only 1 room. They disabled all hotel security cameras.

All 4 were killed today with a single missile to their room. No hotel guest was harmed.

[Yogi @Houseofyogi]

Don't be IBM and fumble an 18yr head start on AI

IBM was the most valuable company on Earth. Invented the hard drive. The PC. The floppy disk. The ATM. DRAM. SQL. The barcode.

Most US patents 29 years straight. 405,000 employees. 70% mainframe market share.

Today: $231 billion. 67th in the world.

Anthropic. Founded 2021. Four years old. $380 billion.

Every piece of the bag was fumbled...

Invented the PC. Sold to Lenovo: $1.75 billion. Invented the hard drive. Sold to Hitachi: $2 billion. Server business. Sold to Lenovo. Basically nothing.

Now the chips. This is pure comedy.

IBM was the largest semiconductor manufacturer on Earth. Fabs in New York. Fabs in Vermont. 16,000 patents.

They PAID GlobalFoundries $1.5 billion cash to take it. Gave away the factories. Gave away the patents. $4.7 billion write-down.

IBM had American fabs. They paid to close them. And the same Democrats who scream about chips going overseas are the ones whose policies made it too expensive to build here.

We wouldn't have TSMC/Taiwan issues today. Decisions have consequences.

TSMC: $700 billion. Nvidia: $5 trillion. IBM paid to exit chips right before chips became the most valuable industry on Earth.

Incredible timing.

Deep Blue beats Kasparov. Live television. First machine to outthink a human world champion.

IBM owned AI. Not as a buzzword. As a fact. On camera. In front of the whole planet.

OpenAI did not exist for another 18 years. Anthropic for another 24. Nvidia was making cards so teenagers could play Halo. Google was two grad students sharing a dorm room.

IBM had an 18-year head start on the entire AI industry.

What did they do with it.

They dismantled Deep Blue. Put it in a museum. Same mentality as every socialist (cough dems) who wants to regulate AI before it ships. Celebrate the breakthrough. Kill the follow-through.

Watson wins Jeopardy. Destroys the two greatest players alive on national TV. Most famous AI brand on the planet.

IBM spends billions on Watson Health. AI that cures cancer. Their engineers flagged it unsafe. Instead of fixing it they sold it for scraps. Then killed the brand entirely. Loser mentality.

IBM Research. Decades of NLP work. The compute. The talent. The CEO looks at LLMs and says "no thanks."

Two years later ChatGPT launches. 100 million users in two months. The entire economy reorganizes around the exact technology IBM looked at and said nah.

That is like having Google's algorithm in 1997 and deciding to build a phonebook.

The suits and the consultants took over. Same thing that kills every city, every agency, every institution that picks socialism over competition.

$201 billion in buybacks over 25 years. More on buybacks than CAPEX. They could have funded every AI lab on Earth with that money. Instead they bought their own stock while the stock went down.

Revenue down 22 straight quarters. Nobody fired.

Name another job where you lose $95 billion in market cap and get a raise. Actually don't. That job only exists at IBM and in Congress.

Buffett bought $12 billion in IBM. The greatest investor alive. Held six years. Dumped it on CNBC. "I was wrong." Put the money in Apple. Best investment in Berkshire history.

They had the patents. The labs. The engineers. The brand. An 18-year head start on AI. Replaced the builders with bureaucrats. Chose buybacks over R&D. Chose administration over competition.

Lost everything.

Now look at who wants to run the same playbook on the AI economy.

Bernie wants data center moratoriums. Tax the builders before they finish building.

Ro Khanna represents $18 trillion in Silicon Valley market cap. Apple. Nvidia. Google. His district built AI. He just held a Stanford town hall with Bernie called "Who Controls AI: The Oligarchs or The People."

Wants to tax unrealized gains. Pause data centers. Put unions on AI boards. Redistribute wealth that hasn't been created yet.

His own district is trying to primary him. Not because he's too progressive. Because he's trying to kneecap the industry that made his district the most valuable zip code on Earth.

That is IBM energy. Tax the engineers. Slow the builders. Add a committee. Wonder why nothing works.

Gavin ran California from a $97 billion surplus into a $68 billion deficit. Lost 789 companies. Tesla. SpaceX. Oracle. Chevron. 200,000 people leaving per year.

And he thinks he should have a say in how AI gets built nationally. The guy who can't keep In-N-Out Burger in California wants to regulate the most important technology since electricity.

These aren't hypotheticals. This is the IBM playbook in real time. Replace engineers with regulators. Replace competition with committees. Replace building with administrating.

And act shocked when the talent leaves and the lead disappears.

IBM went from first to 67th. 1.43% a year for 28 years. A savings account beat that.

Don't let them do it to America.

Name a bigger fumble. I'll wait.

[Steven Fiorillo @stevenfiorillo]

My post on Friday regarding the estate tax proposal in New York got 600,000+ views, so clearly this struck a nerve. Some individuals asked me to back up what I said so I am going to discuss what happens when states push tax policy past the breaking point. Here is what the data shows and it’s worse than most people realize. According to IRS migration data, New York has lost $111 billion in net adjusted gross income over the last decade from residents moving to other states. That’s not hypothetical, that’s $111 billion in taxable income that used to fund schools, subways, police, and infrastructure that is now funding those things in Florida and Texas rather than New York. California lost $102 billion over the same period. Florida gained $196 billion. Texas gained $54 billion. That’s not a coincidence, it’s a pattern.

Between 2018 and 2024, 561 companies relocated their headquarters across the country. The San Francisco Bay Area lost 156 corporate headquarters. Los Angeles lost 106. New York City lost 27. Meanwhile Dallas alone gained 100, Austin gained 81, and Nashville gained 35. This didn’t come to a halt in 2025 or 2026. Palantir $PLTR which was the largest publicly traded company in Colorado, announced in February that it was moving its headquarters from Denver to Miami. It was PLTR’s second move in six years after leaving Silicon Valley in 2020. The governor of Colorado said he found out through a social media post. ExxonMobil’s $XOM board unanimously recommended that shareholders approve reincorporating the company from New Jersey to Texas after 144 years at the vote in May. Exxon has physically operated out of Texas since 1989, and its CEO said Texas has created a policy environment that allows them to maximize shareholder value. Chevron $CVX completed its move from California to Houston. In-N-Out Burger is opening a 100,000-square-foot eastern headquarters near Nashville and is leaving California. These aren’t outliers anymore as this is becoming the new normal.

It’s not just corporate headquarters moving. Entire financial ecosystems are relocating. Citadel, one of the most profitable hedge funds in the world, moved its headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022 and has been building out aggressively ever since. They’re constructing a massive new waterfront headquarters in Miami’s Brickell financial district. Elliott Management moved to West Palm Beach. Carl Icahn moved Icahn Enterprises from New York to Sunny Isles Beach. Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management relocated to St. Petersburg. Goldman Sachs $GS is building a $500 million campus in Dallas designed to house over 5,000 employees. JPMorgan Chase $JPM and Wells Fargo $WFC have both invested hundreds of millions into massive new campuses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Wells Fargo is also moving its wealth management division from San Francisco to West Palm Beach. NYSE Texas a reincorporation of the 143-year old Chicago Stock Exchange officially launched in Dallas in early 2025. The Texas Stock Exchange which is a brand new national securities exchange backed by over $160 million from BlackRock $BLK , Citadel Securities, and Charles Schwab $SCHW is set to begin trading by the end of this year. Nasdaq has also expanded its Texas presence with operations in Irving.

When you have that level of financial infrastructure being built in a single metro area, that’s not a trend it’s an ecosystem being constructed from scratch to compete directly with New York. Each of these moves represents not just a company but thousands of high-paying jobs, billions in local economic activity, and a signal to every other firm still on the fence that states with competitive rather than restrictive policy are creating enticing operating environments.

Currently over 1 million residents have left New York for other states since 2020 according to the latest Census estimates. International immigration has partially offset the population headcount, but it hasn’t replaced the tax base. The people leaving earn significantly more on average than the people arriving. Almost 1,700 millionaires changed their address out of New York in 2024 alone. Millionaires paid 44.6% of all personal income tax collected in the state last year. The proposed response to this fragility is to drop the estate tax threshold from $7.1 million to $750,000, raise the top rate to 50%, add a new 2% income tax surcharge on millionaires, increase corporate taxes, and add a capital gains surcharge. Under these proposals, the combined federal, state, and city top marginal rate on high earners in New York City would approach 54%. That’s a policy framework that ignores everything the last decade of data has told us.

The Dallas mayor just publicly predicted an “avalanche” of NYC financial firms heading to Texas under these policies. Florida realtors are seeing a surge of inquiries from wealthy New Yorkers. Cities like Miami, Austin, and Nashville are building entire ecosystems including schools, cultural centers, and financial services clusters which are designed specifically to attract the people New York is pushing out. Ken Griffin and Stephen Ross just launched a $10 million campaign called “Ambitious Accelerated” to recruit more businesses to what they’re calling Florida’s “Tech Gold Coast.” They’re not waiting for New York to figure it out. They’re actively recruiting our talent, our capital, and our tax base.

That’s what makes this moment so critical. We are in the middle of the most competitive environment for jobs, businesses, and investment that this country has ever seen. States are actively building infrastructure to attract employers and high earners. This is the time to compete, not to double down on the same policy approach that has been pushing wealth and businesses to lower-tax states for a decade. Texas entered its latest legislative session with a $24 billion surplus while having no personal or corporate income tax. Think about that for a moment, no personal or corporate income tax and they have a $24 billion surplus. Florida added more new businesses than any other state in 2024, with over 266,000 formed in a single year. These states didn’t create an attractive business landscape out of thin air. They made deliberate policy choices to create environments where businesses want to operate, where employers want to hire, and where working people can actually build something without the ground shifting underneath them every budget cycle.

This matters because of what it means for everyday people. When a company relocates its headquarters, it doesn’t just move a sign, the entire company leaves, from the executive team to the support staff. It doesn’t stop there because that's only internal. Externally, all of the trades that may do work for the company will no longer receive those phone calls. The restaurants will no longer see those repeat customers. The tax revenue from those paychecks won’t be collected, and future job growth in the community from that company will cease to exist. When Dallas gained 100 corporate headquarters over six years, that meant tens of thousands of new jobs, new residents spending money, new homes being purchased, new small businesses opening to serve those people. That’s how local economies actually grow. That’s how neighborhoods stay alive, and when a corporate headquarters leaves a city, the exact opposite happens. The jobs thin out, the spending dries up, the small businesses that depended on that foot traffic start closing, and the tax base that funded public services shrinks.

New York has every natural advantage in the world. The talent, infrastructure, culture, and institutions are all here, but it won’t be enough if the policy environment drives away the employers and investors who create opportunities for everyone else. The states that are growing right now aren’t growing by accident. They made a decision to be competitive. They kept tax burdens manageable, they created regulatory clarity for businesses, and they built an environment where employers want to expand and hire. New York has every tool to do the same thing. The question is whether the people making the decisions recognize that we’re in a competition and right now, we’re not acting like it.

Here’s the part nobody in Albany wants to hear. The people who leave don’t just take their tax returns with them. They take their fundraising networks, philanthropy, job creation, and spending to a new economy. A city that once attracted the world’s most ambitious people risks becoming a place they leave once they’ve made it, or worse, a place they never lay down roots. That’s not ideology. It’s an economic reality that the IRS, Census, and corporate relocation data have been telling us. I said it in my first post, and I’ll say it again. When you tax people past the point where the math makes sense, they leave. When they leave, the burden falls on everyone who doesn’t have the resources to relocate. It’s time to take a common-sense approach to policy and make the great state of New York competitive again. New York has a decision to make. Either it continues down this path and alienates more taxpayers or it becomes more competitive.

I love this state, but I am extremely worried for it’s future. We should be building a thriving ecosystem with an abundance of opportunities for New Yorkers, but instead we are pushing entrepreneurs and businesses to states that are more competitive with policy. Is this really the path we want to take not only for the current residents but for the next generation?

@amitisinvesting @basispointpod @chamath @Jason @BillAckman @kevinolearytv @patrickbetdavid @PBDsPodcast

[Greta Van Susteren @greta]

UNTIL members of the House and the Senate fund DHS (TSA), they should not be escorted to the front of the TSA lines. They should report to the airport like their constituents and stand in line for 2 plus hours.

[GretchenInOK @GretchenInOK]

From a Secret Service agent guarding President Trump:

🚨LATEST UPDATE | A Secret Service agent protecting Trump just said something that SHOCKED everyone: “Trump has RUINED me - I can never protect another President after him” - and before you think that’s criticism, wait until you hear what he actually MEANS by “ruined,” because his explanation about Trump is making the entire Secret Service agency emotional. Here’s what the agent meant by “Trump ruined me”: This Secret Service agent has protected multiple Presidents before Trump. He was trained professionally. Did his job perfectly. Protected each President the same way - with discipline, distance, and duty. Then he got assigned to protect Trump. And everything CHANGED. The agent explained: “Trump RUINED me for this job. Not because he’s difficult - but because he’s the OPPOSITE. Trump knows my NAME. Every other President called me ‘agent.’ Trump calls me by my actual name. Trump knows my WIFE’S name. My CHILDREN’S names. Asks about my son’s baseball games by name. Trump NOTICES when I’m tired after standing 8 hours and says ‘Sit down, you need rest.’ Trump orders EXTRA food during long days: ‘Make sure my guys eat first.’ Trump attended my FATHER’S FUNERAL when he passed. No cameras. No press. Just came to honor the man who raised the agent protecting him. After experiencing THIS - how can I go back to being called ‘agent’ by future Presidents? After Trump remembered my KIDS’ names, how can I protect someone who won’t even learn MY name? After Trump treated me like FAMILY, how can I go back to being treated like FURNITURE? Trump RUINED me.

He raised the bar so high for how Presidents should treat Secret Service that I can NEVER accept the old standard again. That’s what I mean by ruined.” Here’s what this confession proves: Trump didn’t just earn Secret Service protection - he RUINED them for protecting anyone else because once you’re treated like FAMILY, you can’t go back to being equipment. 😭🛡️🇺🇸 Drop 🫡 and type: TRUMP RUINED THE STANDARD. Comment: Once treated like FAMILY, can’t go back to FURNITURE - that’s Trump’s effect. Share so people understand: “ruined” = highest compliment. Follow if raising standards inspires. Ruined for good! 🛡️😭💙🇺🇸

[AJ Inapi (Allan) @aj_inapi]

Let’s talk about the real obstruction in Washington right now.

Not the Democrats.
Not the media.

It’s the Republican Senate leadership slow-walking President Donald Trump’s agenda.

And the man holding the gavel is @LeaderJohnThune.

Thune is 64 years old.
He has spent nearly three decades in Washington.

And right now, under his leadership, the Senate has become a graveyard for Trump-backed legislation passed by the House.

Bills that the American people demanded.
Bills that House Republicans delivered.

Bills that the Senate has sat on for over a year.

Let’s look at the receipts.

430+ DAYS gathering dust in the Senate:

• SAVE Act (H.R. 22) — Proof of citizenship to vote. Introduced Jan. 3, 2025. Still sitting. (~430+ days)

• Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act (H.R. 27) — Crush fentanyl trafficking. (~430+ days)

• Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act (H.R. 28) — Keep men out of women’s sports. (~430+ days)

• Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act — Require medical care for babies born alive after abortion attempts. (~430+ days)

• Action Versus No Action Act (H.R. 184) — Speed up forest management and energy development. (~430+ days)

• Multiple border security and energy protection bills from early 2025. (~430+ days)

More bills rotting in Senate limbo:

• Epstein Files Transparency Act (H.R. 4405) — Release Epstein-related records. (~300+ days)

• Clear Skies Act (H.R. 4403) — Energy and environmental deregulation. (~300+ days)

• Tribal Trust Land Homeownership reforms — (~300+ days)

• BOWOW Act of 2025 (H.R. 4638) — (~250+ days)

• Stop the Sexualization of Children Act (H.R. 7661) — (~200+ days)

• Deporting Fraudsters Act of 2026 (H.R. 1958) — (~200+ days)

• DHS funding / border security bills for 2026 — sitting unfinished. (~200+ days)

• Wintergreen Emergency Egress Act (H.R. 6365) — (~100+ days)

• Housing for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 6644) — (~90-100 days)

And now the big one:

SAVE America Act (H.R. 7296)
Passed the House Feb. 11, 2026 (218-213).

Trump’s top legislative priority right now.

Proof of citizenship to vote.
Photo ID requirements.
Protections for women’s sports.
Restrictions on transgender procedures for minors.
Limits on mass mail-in voting loopholes.

And what has the Senate done?

Nothing.

About 40 days and counting.

Meanwhile President Trump has made it crystal clear:

No signatures on other legislation until the SAVE America Act moves.

Because Trump understands something Senate Republicans apparently don’t:

If elections aren’t secure, none of the rest of this matters.

So the question for @LeaderJohnThune and Senate Republicans is simple:

Why are House-passed bills sitting for 430+ days?

Why is the Senate slow-walking the very agenda voters elected Trump to deliver?

Why does the Republican Senate look like a bureaucratic parking lot instead of a legislative engine?

At some point, excuses run out.

The American people didn’t vote for a Republican Senate that behaves like a speed bump.

They voted for a government that actually moves the agenda forward.

And right now, the Senate isn’t moving.

It’s stalling.

The clock is ticking.

Pass the bills.

Or explain to the voters why you won’t.

[LHGrey™️ @grey4626]

Gina has laid it out here, perfectly, about the hypocrisy with Obama, as opposed to Trump.

Do give this a read.

It's fucking beautiful.

Saint fucking Hussain...drone happy without any congressional give a fucks whatsoever.

💀

[Nancy Mace @NancyMace]

85% of Americans support the SAVE Act.

Only American citizens should vote in American elections.

PASS THE SAVE ACT.

[Nick Sortor @nicksortor]

🚨 BREAKING: Chuck Schumer says the SAVE America Act will "allow ICE to kick TENS OF MILLIONS of people off the voter rolls"

WOW! Schumer just OPENLY ADMITTED voter rolls are PLAGUED WITH ILLEGALS.

The quiet part has just been said out loud!

And he’s crediting @elonmusk for making it happen 🤣

We ALL KNEW illegals were voting, but now it's confirmed by none other than Chuck Schumer